Chapter 845 - Chapter 6: Beyond That ⑥
The magic battle that began after they took distance started with both sides avoiding ultra-high-level spells that require chanting, and instead became an exchange of intermediate-level spells that could be fired in quantity and had some power.
The magic warrior took the initiative. Having just taken a hard hit, Lyudmila was on the defensive.
As a countermeasure against the Magic Reflection cast on Lyudmila, the magic warrior used Clump Stone. The stones he threw were the ones he had been sitting on. They were large enough for a human to lie down on. If something that heavy flew at high speed, Magic Reflection would be meaningless. What was clever was that while he manipulated the large stones with his left hand, he simultaneously manipulated several smaller stones that had been scattered around with his right hand, interfering with Lyudmila's ability to fire magic. In other words, she couldn't cancel his magic. He must have prepared those stones specifically as a countermeasure against Magic Reflection. In response, Lyudmila deployed two Wind Barriers in front of her body to block the small stones, while somehow deflecting the large stones to avoid a direct hit. In short, both her hands were occupied, and since she wasn't using Clump Stone, she couldn't cancel the opponent's magic. She was completely forced onto the defensive.
They clashed several times with a clank-clank, but Lyudmila's Wind Barrier was canceled just as a large stone flew in. It was the simultaneous activation of multiple types of magic. Being a legendary hero, he had mastered it.
Lyudmila instinctively rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding the flying large stone. As if aiming for that opening, small stones flew toward Lyudmila... but they didn't come!
"Not bad, Lyudmila. She canceled the opponent's Clump Stone in that split second."
When did she... It didn't look like that at all.
After that, a plain battle continued. When the opponent tried to chant magic, Lyudmila would cancel it. If it was just canceling, she could even cancel two types of magic simultaneously. That continued.
Perhaps growing impatient, the opponent began to chant various spells. They were all upper-level. She canceled Fire Storm, canceled Stone Storm (an applied use of Sand Storm), canceled Glaciate, canceled Mist, canceled Tornado Wind, and canceled Wind Barrier. However, she only deflected Thunderbolt with the Magic Reflection she had cast on herself. He didn't fire Dark magic, perhaps because he couldn't use it. If it's done this much, the opponent must be at a loss. To be honest, he has no way to attack. After that, he would either have to fire an ultra-high-level spell while accepting the opening created by the chanting time, or return to close combat. I wondered what would happen, and he challenged her to close combat. However, his weapon wasn't a sword. It was a hand spear. He had hidden it behind the pillar where the stones he was manipulating with Clump Stone were placed.
Against a spear, Lyudmila struggled. Because the opponent's spear work was fast and skillful, she couldn't get inside his reach. As long as that was the case, Lyudmila, who fought with bare-handed combat, was unilaterally on the defensive. She just dodged the spear or deflected it with her shield.
She must have thought this was bad. She jumped back several steps and challenged the spear with a magic battle. Lyudmila fired, and the opponent canceled everything. With this, the offensive and defensive were reversed. Or so I thought, but I realized this was the opponent's aim around the time sweat began to pour from Lyudmila's forehead.
Unlike Mary, Lyudmila continued to fire intermediate and upper-level spells. Her consumption is fast. I'm worried about her falling into darkness. Or, for a Vampire Half, is there no such thing as falling into darkness? Surely she's not planning to use the same trick as Mary.
"It is about time."
The magic warrior, who hadn't broken a sweat, said with a smirk. He's a complete villain.
I finally noticed at those words. The Almighty Guard I had cast on her had timed out.
Lyudmila also noticed, as her movements stopped. No, that feeling—the timeout had come.
"As expected, it is the limit of a human. You are different from us, who sought the answer to the mystery, sought strength, and came this far."
No, I think Lyudmila is somewhat the same.
"Try to dodge this. Thunderbolt!"
He fired two shots simultaneously and horizontally with both hands. Since lightning moves in a zigzag, the range it hits becomes wider. It's hard to dodge. Until now, Lyudmila had been deflecting lightning with Magic Reflection without canceling it. If it's a magic she can use, it's faster to cancel it, and it's safer since it wasn't applied to her hands and feet. He attacked assuming Lyudmila couldn't use it.
"Wind Barrier!"
The lightning struck the wall of air Lyudmila deployed in front of her body, and yellow light splattered. Lyudmila narrowed her eyes as if it were dazzling. The magic warrior had fired a Clump Stone. A large stone was about to go around behind Lyudmila, who was using the lightning as a blindfold.
"Here! Thunderbolt!"
The magic warrior added more lightning.
In response, Lyudmila stepped forward. Moreover, she canceled the Wind Barrier, so she had no shield.
"Thunderbolt!"
Lyudmila canceled the lightning fired by the magic warrior with her left hand, and fired the same magic as a counterattack! That's right, Lyudmila can use lightning magic. She deliberately pretended she couldn't use it to lure the opponent in.
However, the opponent is also a veteran warrior. He couldn't hide his surprise that Lyudmila fired lightning, but he canceled it easily. Lyudmila is also firing repeatedly as if she saw through him, but he cancels them one after another. During that time, Lyudmila kept closing the distance... and suddenly, she jumped sideways. While jumping, she fired lightning slightly diagonally upward from the bottom right toward the magic warrior. The target was naturally the magic warrior. Toward that magic warrior, the large stone he himself had sent around behind Lyudmila flew in a straight line. He must have canceled it. He can't manipulate it. The magic warrior, targeted by both his own large stone and Lyudmila's lightning, rolled on the floor in a direction away from Lyudmila. The lightning passed over his head, and the large stone landed where the magic warrior had been.
The magic warrior, who narrowly avoided the two spells, used the momentum of rolling three, four times to get into a crouching stance on one knee. But he lost sight of Lyudmila. He's hurriedly looking around. He suddenly turned his gaze upward. And then, he took a Holy Lance fired from a scroll by Lyudmila, who had jumped to a non-human height, squarely on his head.
Lyudmila landed right next to the magic warrior, who was face down on the floor with his legs twitching, and collapsed at the same time. She's trying to stand up somehow but is staggering.
"A-Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry. My legs are shaking, I can't stand up well."
The face she smiled with turned into a suspicious expression. At that moment, the magic warrior's right hand reached out and grabbed Lyudmila's right ankle. Lyudmila didn't shake off that hand but leaned over the magic warrior's back.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Trump card!"
Yellow light coming from the magic warrior's right hand and light bursting from the Overflow magic circle Lyudmila had hidden on her stomach as she clung to the magic warrior's back happened almost simultaneously. The two of them shook their bodies with a bikun in that posture.
As they were, both were twitching and convulsing.
"W-What is the judgment?"
I looked at the Demon Lord.
"Both are unable to continue fighting; it is a draw."
Good, the ruling has been handed down. Now I won't be criticized for treating them. Everyone rushed over, and Beowulf removed the magic warrior's hand that was grabbing the ankle and pulled Lyudmila up. The handprint was clearly left on her ankle. When I applied Holy with all my might, it disappeared.
"I'm sorry. I let my guard down."
Is the reason she didn't take as much damage as Bonnie because she's a Vampire Half?
As for the magic warrior, who was twitching face down, Violet flipped him over by hooking him with the claw of her side leg.
"Good work. The Demon Lord's judgment has been made. It's a draw."
When Violet spoke to him, he let out a huge breath with a buha! Had he been holding his breath so his presence wouldn't be sensed?
He looked pitiful as he wheezed, so after getting confirmation, I applied Mold to him. More than the fact that I was taking care of him, he was surprised that I could use Mold.
Since it was a draw, I had both of them drink some restorative wine. It turned into a banquet just like that.
I also prepared some high-quality stuff from Finis. It was a gift from Gwyn-sama.
"Gah! This is good! It's been a long time since I've had something like this!"
No way, has it been four thousand years?
"No. Back then, this kind of thing hadn't been invented among humans yet. When we were living as humans, it was a thick, porridge-like stuff."
"Is that so?"
"Yeah, this kind of alcohol apparently came from the continent. After we died."
That means...
"Well, occasionally, we'd sneak into human society. We'd bring back what we happened to find..."
You don't have to say the rest. I understand.
They also praised the dried meat I brought out. I thought so, I thought so. There's no difference between races when it comes to delicious things.
"By the way, you. Lyudmila, was it? Since your body movements are different, I thought you were a descendant of humans from the continent, but I bet you're not human?"
The magic warrior asked Lyudmila while gnawing on dried meat.
"I'm a Vampire Half."
"I see. To think you could release mana from the ankle I was grabbing to reduce the power of the magic. We can't even do that, releasing it from just a part of the body instead of the whole body."
Can she do such a thing? She's like an upper-level Demon Race... and an executive class at that. No, from what the magic warrior said, is she even more than that?
"A True Ancestor taught me."
Lyudmila is acting relaxed with an "Ufufu."
"You say he taught you, but can you do it so easily?"
"The principle is the same as activating magic. Since my ankle was grabbed, I was able to be clearly conscious of it instead."
"Then, would it have been better if I had just aimed to hit you?"
"I suppose so. If you had tried to move your hand, but it didn't move well, and eventually your hand hit somewhere and you fired, I might not have seen through it."
"In that situation, how could I have such leeway?"
"That's true too."
Lyudmila laughed, and the magic warrior laughed too. Somehow, it's become heartwarming.
"More than that. You, what are you going to do from now on?"
"I wonder what will happen."
Even when Violet asked, he only said vague things.
"Until now, we've slit the throats of every opponent we faced to finish them off."
"No—I don't need that. I'll return on my own."
"I see. To the world where you originally belong."
"Yeah, I was specially summoned this time."
Saying that, he looked at the Demon Lord. The Demon Lord was drinking alcohol with an indifferent face.
"Summoned?"
"Correct. Usually, we go back and forth between your world and the world we usually live in, but I heard from the Demon Lord that some eccentric people had come here."
Everyone looked at me at once. Was I an eccentric person?
"So, I came out specifically to face you."
"Why face us?"
"To test you. To see if you are humans worthy of passing through here."
This word surprised everyone.
"Are we being tested?"
Beatrix blurted out. Well, of course. It wouldn't be strange no matter who blurted it out.
"Of course. That's why you were told you needed to be prepared to lose your lives."
Surprisingly, the Wetlands Priestess wasn't surprised. On the contrary, she had understood.
"Hey, can I ask one thing?"
Perhaps because the humans and Fiona had fallen silent, the Wetlands Priestess added more words.
"What is it?"
"Could it be that you guys can't show your true strength here either?"
"Likely so. It can't be helped. We are not inhabitants of this side."
"I knew it. You're not giving it your all."
"Whaaa! I fought seriously! I intended to kill. I thought if I didn't give it my all, I might be killed!"
Rarely, Lyudmila raised her voice. She was glaring at the magic warrior with her beautiful face.
"Hey, hey, let me tell you, I didn't hold back. I intended to kill you too. If we don't fight seriously, we can't measure your true strength."
"Is that so?"
"That's right. We are like the Demon Race now. No, we are the Demon Race. The Demon Race, you see, can only show their true strength in the world where the Demon Race originally lives. Conversely, if you guys come to our world, you won't be able to give it your all. In other words, there's no place where we can both fight with our true full power."
"I see. Now that you mention it, I've heard a story like that. It was a dark world, though."
"Hey, hey, have you seen it?"
"Yeah. I was taken there. I just peeked in a little."
"Heh, that's amazing. It's worth coming this far. Then, it's easy to talk. We have to be there."
"That place was certainly scary. I thought if I went in, I would definitely die."
Certainly, Lyudmila was there at that time. Since Lyudmila was scared, we withdrew without going deep.
"Right? And, that final lightning magic. If you hadn't been able to use that mana release technique unique to Half-Vampires, what would have happened?"
"I probably would have died."
"Right? I was going for it seriously from the start."
"I see, then it's fine. I'm sorry for misunderstanding."
Is it fine? I don't understand it well.
"Because I inherited my mother's power. Of course, since I'm a Quarter, it's not the same power as my mother. But I couldn't face her if I had a draw because he held back."
"I knew it. Your bloodlust was ringing out. I was the same, right? It's been a long time since my blood boiled."
"Certainly. Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to give it my all either."
"Right?"
"Yeah!"
I don't know why, but they became friends. If Lyudmila is satisfied, I guess it's fine.
Lyudmila was satisfied, but this time the Wetlands Priestess snapped.
"Hey, I'm a ghost. Even for a ghost like me, if I go to your world, I can't give it my all? When Lyudmila went, I was with her. It was a world overflowing with spiritual power."
"Did you go too?"
"Yeah. I peeked through something like a window and took in spiritual power."
"Gah! That's outrageous. Could it be that others have gone too?"
Among those remaining, it's me and Fiona.
"I see. No wonder the Demon Lord is acting as a guide."
When I looked at the Demon Lord, he had a bit of a smug face. That in itself is something I don't quite understand.
"So, how is it?"
"That depends on how you lived in the world of the living."
"Eh, is that so?"
"Most who come there lose their sense of self and become Pretas."
There certainly were some.
"But when I gave them dried meat, they ascended."
"A-Ascended?"
"Yeah. When I and Jeanne gave them dried meat and offered prayers, they ascended."
"What can I say... I didn't think it would go that far. What I understand is that you guys are definitely people who are okay to come here."
It's likely a compliment.